Nothing Else Matters Now
by Palmer4President
Summary: Picks up right where season 6 left off, so there are season 6 spoilers. Bill gets Karen's good news, and life looks a little bit better for the Buchanans.
1. Chapter 1

**Here's my post-finale story. Well, I've been thinking of writing something else that's also post-finale, but this is immediately post-finale. Sorry if it's almost become cliche, but I wanted to write a story about Bill and Karen being reunited after season 6's close, so here it is. I'm planning on another chapter after this one, but if you review, I'll be more motivated to write it! It might have to wait another week or two, but I will be motivated to write it, so please review!**

**Dedicated to take5, who gave me motivation to get this up before school ended. You all are great, but I really wasn't planning on polishing this for another few weeks. Thanks take5!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own 24 or its characters. **

It was almost too good to be true. After everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, and even in the past three months, Karen couldn't believe that it was over. Not only were the terrorist attacks over, but she could go home. Home to Bill. Their months of seemingly endless separation were finally over, and now those lonely nights would never have to be repeated.

In the past, Karen had always thought that being fired would be the worst thing that could happen to her. However, now that she was actually being forced to quit her job, she didn't feel the sense of loss that she had previously thought she would feel. The past 24 hours had brought Karen to the realization that her job wasn't the most important thing in her life- he was waiting for her back in Los Angeles. Now, she could finally correct her mistake of ever letting Bill get away from her. She was free of a time-consuming, stress-inducing job to be with the man she loved more than she could ever have imagined.

Karen stood in the small holding cell looking at the door, the gateway to her freedom. She approached it somewhat tentatively, placing her hands on the frame as if to assure herself that it actually was there. She nervously glanced at the guard across from her, almost expecting him to stop her from leaving. However, when he made no move, Karen left the room, moving slowly at first. She still half-expected someone to come and tell her that she couldn't go. However, the farther away she got from the holding cell, the faster she moved. Soon, she was practically running through the halls of the West Wing to her office so that she could call Bill.

Karen flew through the door to her office to find most of her personal possessions packed haphazardly in a few boxes. This hardly surprised her. She dug through the boxes for a moment and found the picture of her and Bill that she kept on her desk. It was taken on their honeymoon and, whenever she had to work late nights, she would find herself staring at it, fondly recalling those happier times. Karen wasn't quite sure why she dug it out, but there was something about looking at it that always calmed her down. She smiled and placed it on her desk before picking up the phone and dialing the number she had long ago memorized.

* * *

Bill was exhausted. It had been one hell of a long day, and on top of the physical strain of staying awake and alert for over 24 hours, he had faced tremendous emotional strain. Mostly, it had been at the hands of his wife, and he had been furious for several hours over her decision to fire him. When the FBI agents arrived at their house to go through everything they owned, Bill had briefly considered calling Karen and telling her that this wasn't going to work. However, the moment she left a message for him saying that she didn't know where else to turn, dozens of horrible possibilities flashed through Bill's mind. In that moment, he knew that leaving her was not an option, nor had it really ever been one. He still loved her now just as much as when they were first married, and he would do anything to get their marriage to work. 

_Well, now that I'm out of a job, I guess I can move out to DC,_ he thought, looking around the CTU bullpen somewhat sadly. Nadia had run off to take care of some CTU business, leaving Bill standing alone in the large room. He had certainly been upset when Karen had fired him from his job, but now, he actually saw it as a relief. This was his chance to rescue the sinking ship that had become his marriage in the past weeks. _Although, I don't know how a marriage could possibly work if we're both under arrest,_ he thought bitterly.

He walked over to an empty station, sitting down in the chair. He had never seen CTU from this point of view. Bill glanced up at the director's office and saw Nadia pacing, speaking to an unknown caller on her cell phone. Then, as if on cue, his own cell phone rang. He pulled it out and glanced at the caller ID. Karen. Curiously, he answered it.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked immediately. His concern laced his voice as he anxiously waited for her reply. Why she was calling him so soon after being arrested? He hadn't expected to hear from her until later in the afternoon.

"Hey. Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. Bill let out the breath he had been holding. "Sweetheart, I have some good news," Karen said, smiling as she talked. "All of the charges have been dropped against us."

A moment of silence passed between them as Bill processed what she had just said. "What?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Based on the fact that no harm came from our actions, Daniels has decided that it's not in the best interests of the country to drag us through the mud. Of course, we both still have to resign, but after that, there will be no investigation into Seattle, no treason charges, nothing." As she was saying this, Karen felt her smile widen even more. Telling the news to Bill made it all so much more real to her- they were going to get a second chance to make their marriage work.

"Oh my God, Karen, I- I can't believe- oh my God," Bill said, momentarily at a loss for words. After a deep breath, he found his voice again. "How did that happen?"

"Tom Lennox," Karen answered, smiling fondly at the new ally she had gained. "He somehow convinced Daniels to drop the charges against me and to pardon you from any investigation into Seattle."

"So that little rat turned out to be good for something after all," Bill mused. Karen let out a short laugh.

"Yeah, imagine that," she joked back. She could almost see Bill grinning on the other end. "I'm going to get on the first flight available out of here. I'll get my letter of resignation to Daniels within the hour, and after that I'm free to leave."

"Okay, call me when you know which flight you're on."

"I will." The couple was silent for a moment, both hardly able to believe that this was really happening. Karen was the first one to break the silence. "I love you so much, Bill."

"I love you too, honey," Bill said, his words catching a little in his throat as he started to get emotional. "God, I love you."

Karen closed her eyes to keep several tears of joy from falling. She could be married to Bill for a hundred years and never tire of hearing those words from him. "I'll call you soon with my flight."

"All right, sounds good."

"Bye."

"Bye, sweetheart." Bill shut his eyes momentarily as he disconnected. Thoughts were racing through his mind faster than he could process, but one seemed to float to the top above the others: _Karen is coming home._

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

**And chapter 2 is up! As always, please review when you're done reading! It really doesn't take very long, and they inspire me to write more stories. Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed my last chapter! And without further ado, here's chapter 2! **

**Usual disclaimer: I don't own 24 or any of its characters.**

Bill sat at his computer at home, logged on to American Airlines Online and entering the number that Karen had given him. From here, he was able to check on the status of her flight. It was on time. He breathed a sigh of relief. There was no way he could wait any longer than he had to for his wife to get home.

_As if there would be anything I could do about it if her flight was late,_ he thought cynically to himself. He sat back in his chair, extremely bored. Bill considered watching the little dot on the screen travel all the way across the United States map for the next 6 hours, but he could hear Karen's voice in the back of his head nagging him to get some sleep. He decided to get some sleep now and wake up before she got home. After all, her plane was only over West Virginia now. He still had a while to go before she got home. He went into the bedroom and set the alarm for 3:30- five and a half hours from now. That would give him plenty of time to get up and be awake for Karen when she arrived.

* * *

As her plane touched down at Los Angeles International Airport, Karen Hayes jumped up to exit the plane as fast as her suit and heels would allow. She hadn't taken the time to change clothes after leaving the White House, preferring to get to the airport as soon as possible. Now, she regretted her decision slightly, finding it very difficult to run in her 1-inch heels. Nonetheless, she was able to safely navigate her way out of the terminal, to the baggage claim, and out of LAX.

The nearly unbearable heat of the Los Angeles afternoon hit her like a brick wall as she exited the air-conditioned airport. Usually, she despised the sky-high temperatures of southern California, but today, she welcomed them with open arms. They meant that she was home. She was finding it very difficult to hate anything at the moment, and everything she saw seemed to look beautiful. But how could she not be ecstatic? After three long months of separation from her husband, she was finally home. Karen quickly flagged down a taxi to take her back to the place that she truly belonged.

* * *

The annoying buzzing of his alarm woke Bill up at 3:30. He rolled over and looked at the clock, not entirely remembering why he had set it to 3:30 in the afternoon. Still in that state of consciousness between being asleep and being awake, Bill shut off the alarm and went back to sleep.

* * *

Half an hour later, Karen was standing outside of the house that she and Bill had moved in to shortly after getting married. Despite the fact that the grass had clearly not been watered regularly in the past few months, it was the most beautiful sight that Karen had ever seen. She had to fight to contain her joy as she rushed up the steps to unlock the door.

* * *

It was the sound of the front door creaking open that awoke Bill. It took him a second to realize what woke him up, but he soon heard the scuffling of feet across the hardwood floor of the entry way. For a moment, he wondered who on Earth could be in his entry way at 4:30 in the afternoon. Then it hit him. Karen. His heart rate sped up and he shook the last cobwebs of sleep from his head.

_So much for waking up in time to see her home,_ he thought as he quietly made his way down the stairs. He briefly vowed to later look in to how he slept through his alarm. He found her suitcase at the foot of the stairs, and he could hear some movement coming from the kitchen. Through the doorway, he could see a familiar blonde setting down her things on the counter.

As Bill approached the threshold to the room, Karen whirled around. Her eyes connected with Bill's and time seemed irrelevant. She had rehearsed what she would say at this exact moment at least a hundred times, and in at least a hundred different ways, on the plane ride home. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't remember any of those different plans at the moment. All she could process was that her husband was, in fact, standing mere feet from her, and he had never looked more breathtaking to her than he did now. With Bill standing there in a simple white tee shirt and boxer shorts, his hair slightly disheveled and his eyes still groggy from sleep, Karen felt herself fall in love all over again. She could hardly believe that she had ever been willing to give him up.

"Hi," she finally said somewhat sheepishly. A slow grin spread across Bill's face.

"Hi." Before she had time to say anything else, Bill quickly closed the gap between their bodies and enveloped her in an almost desperate embrace. Karen let out a content sigh as she buried her face in him, breathing in his uniquely musky scent. This was where she belonged. Not back in Washington arguing over some piece of policy- right here, in Bill's arms.

After a long minute, Bill gently pulled back to look at Karen. He held her face between his hands, tenderly stroking her cheeks with his thumbs. She closed her eyes at this small act of affection and a new wave of emotion overpowered her. She could feel several tears escape from the corners of her eyes, and she squeezed her eyes shut even tighter. Bill softly kissed up the trail of her tears, tasting the mix of her salty tears and the sweetness of her skin. Karen felt sobs bubble up to her surface, and soon Bill was holding her tightly again, muttering soothing words of comfort in her ear as she wept into his tee shirt. He gently rocked her, knowing that she needed to be able just to cry after everything that they had been though in the past few days. She had a tendency to put all of her emotions aside for a long period of time, especially during a national crisis, and break down sobbing later, usually when Bill was there.

"Thank you," she whispered into him when her crying had subsided. He pulled back enough to place a kiss on her forehead.

"Anytime," he told her. She gave him a watery smile.

"God, I'm only home for five minutes and you've already reduced me to a weepy mess," she said, causing him to chuckle.

"Ah, but you're _my_ weepy mess, and that's all that matters to me," he grinned. His tone turned slightly more serious. "That's the _only_ thing that matters," he whispered to her. "Not my job, not whatever decisions you had made- only you." He leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her awaiting lips. Entangling one hand in her hair, he deepened the kiss further and they explored each other, re-learning everything they might have forgotten in the past months. When they were finally forced to break apart due to lack of air, Bill rested his forehead against his wife's.

"What do we do now?" Karen asked quietly. "Neither of us have jobs, and I know we still have a lot to talk about. Where should we go from here?" A mischievous grin spread across Bill's face.

"I think I have a few ideas," he said, placing another quick kiss on her lips. And with that, Bill took Karen's hand and led her upstairs, intending to show her that, no matter what else happened, he would always love her. Sure, they had things to talk about, but there was plenty time for that. They would always have each other, and that was truly all that mattered.

**The End**


End file.
